#ECIL2023 Students’ Perceptions of Using Artificial Intelligence in Written Assignments – Is Information Literacy Still Needed

Pam McKinney live blogging from the ECIL conference in Krakow. Krista Lepik from Tartu university in Estonia. Krista’s opening slide featured a picture of her created by an AI programme! AI chat bots are becoming increasingly popular and available, and students use them to help create their written assignments. There are mixed feelings about the use of AI chatbots in education activities by university administrators and faculty members, and as a results Tartu university has created some guidelines on the use of AI chatbots in teaching. Students have to write a short literature review in the course “information behaviour theories and practices” that uses a minimum of 3 scholarly sources. They had to use an AI chatbot to help write the assignment, and also to write a reflection on how they had used the chatbot and whether they thought it was a useful tool. Reflections from 26 students were analysed thematically.
Students did trust the results from the chatbot, but did go through a process of verification. Initially students were optimistic about the use of the chatbot, and the process seemed smooth and the interface was easy to use. But later they became more cautious. They encountered fake references, and there was an illusion of high quality text.
The material created by the AI was often off topic, and the quality of translation into Estonian was poor. Students advised caution particularly if they were not very familiar with the topic. Relevance is subjective, and students questioned whether they would summarise the same points from the text. It takes an unexpectedly long time to verify the information generated by the AI. However they valued the opportunity to use their own language, and felt that they could discover new ideas, perspectives, and inspiration.
It is better to use a chatbot to explore topic where you have some previous knowledge. Banning AI generated content does not help, also it is difficult to identify AI generated content. It is better to work in partnership with students to explore the affordances and limitations of chatbots. These programmes are here to stay so it is important to be aware of how they work and what they do.
Photo by Pam McKinney - tram ticket machine